SAARC Parliamentarians regret martyrs being described as traitors

Shimla, Jun 3 (UNI) Parliamentarians of the SAARC nations today unanimously resolved to called upon governments of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to correct their official records which continue to describe martyrs of the 1857 War as ''traitors''.

Acknowledging the sacrifices of the martyrs, the SAARC meet resolved to urge and motivate their respective governments to correct this fallacy of history bequeathed to the region by the Britishers who ruled for 90 years after the 1857 war.

They resolved to impress upon their respective governments to rewrite the 1857 history from the South Asian perspective with all the glorious tales of soldier, men and women who had laid down their lives for each other without any consideration of religion, language, caste and creed because that was their way of life.

Sixty years down the line, it would only be appropriate to salute the martyrs in practice and for record.

Earlier, addressing the two-day conference ''Towards South Asian Unity'', organised by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), a Delhi based journalist, Madhukar Upadhyay, regretted that the martyrs of 1857 war of independence were not given due recognition by the conference in its draft declaration.

He said it was unfortunate that the history of 1857 war of independence was written from British point of view and the martyrs were still described as ''traitors''.

UNI